A Health Lottery ad has been banned for claiming that players have "a very good chance of winning".

The TV ad featured various people who had won a prize in the lottery, with one man saying: "I would encourage anyone to go out and buy a Health Lottery ticket. You've a very good chance of winning."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 12 complaints that the comment misleadingly exaggerated the chances of winning the lottery.

The Health Lottery said the claim was a "genuine word-of-mouth recommendation from an actual consumer".

Approximately 300,000 players took part in each draw, and one in 108 players won a prize in any one of their five weekly lottery draws, indicating that there was a "very good chance" of winning, it said.

The ASA said the man's testimonial based on his own experience of having won a prize was likely to be interpreted as factual and to mean that consumers were more likely to win a prize from the Health Lottery than not winning anything.

"However, because the claim was not supported with documentary evidence we considered that it exaggerated the chances of winning the Health Lottery and concluded it was likely to mislead viewers," the watchdog said.

It ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form and told the Health Lottery that its advertising must not exaggerate the chances of winning a prize.